The one who prompted the media to reinvent the term “gender bender,” Boy George, and his band, [lastfm link_type=”artist_info”]Culture Club[/lastfm], were pegged to be a “flash-in-the-pan” by every serious music critic to write a sentence in 1982, the year they debuted.

Problem was: Culture Club weren’t performing for the critics and their second album, 1983’s Colour by Numbers, proved it.

They were playing pop songs for the public and their combination of pretty boys looks, outrageous behaviors (George’s department) and non-stop exposure on MTV caused the world to fall in love with them.

And let’s not forget the songs, all ten of them perfectly pitched for the record buying public in 1983. The Motown slickery of “Church of the Poison Mind” launched the song to a Number 10 showing in the US while the childlike sing-a-long of “Karma Chameleon” found its final resting place at Number 1 (and on countless retro-pop TV shows since).

The puffery continued as “Miss Me Blind” and “I’ll Tumble for Ya” also found the Top 10, propelling the album to peak on the Hot 100 at Number 2. Since its release in November 1983, Colour by Numbers has sold over 4,000,000 copies.

What was hot a quarter-of-a-century ago? Find out with more Best Sellers from the ’80s here…